After Louis' death in 1852, the braille code, the code he invented as a teenager, spread throughout the world. In 1878, a congress met in Paris and officially decided to adopt braille as the international system used for writing by the blind. However, this did not put an end to the use of multiple systems of embossed writing. In the United States, braille was first used in 1854 by the Missouri School for the Blind, but it took until 1917 for the United States to agree upon a braille standard. Up until then, competing systems of Boston Line Type, Moon Type, American Braille, British Braille, and New York Point were all used.

It was not until 1932 that a uniform code was accepted by English-speaking countries around the world.